Jadis, Jewel of Charn
by Rose and Thorn
Summary: The story of Jadis' quest for power from the time of her father's death until the arrival of two human children. ON HOLD.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Yikes! This idea just wouldn't let me alone. Not sure how many chapters it will be, yet, but it will cover the story of Charn from Jadis' father's death to the arrival of Polly and Digory.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

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Her father was dying, they said. Old age was the cause, they claimed. They told her to make haste and to come before he breathed his last.

Jadis, Princess of Charn, heard the summons. She looked with calm indifference at the anxious faces of her slaves.

"I will come," she said.

Moving swiftly, Jadis approached her father's chamber. She threw open the door and bolted it behind her, telling the slaves to go - to leave her with her dead.

They protested that he was not dead, yet.

Jadis only smiled a cruel and mirthless smile and bade them do as she said.

Left alone with her father, the King of Charn, Jadis sat herself beside his bed and looked upon his white face.

"Daughter," he wheezed, his breathing laboured.

"Father," Jadis said coldly.

"Where is your sister, Liris? Why did she not come?" he asked, moving once strong hands to clasp his daughter's sleeve. "There is much I have to tell you both."

"She is heartless," Jadis whispered, wrenching her sleeve from her father's grasp. "She cares nothing for you."

"But she must care!" the dying man cried. "The fate of Charn will be in her hands after my death."

"Perhaps," said Jadis, rising from her chair and facing her father proudly. "Or maybe Charn will be mine -- all mine. Not Liris'.

"Jadis!" her father exclaimed, as loudly as his failing lungs would allow him. "Charn can not be yours while Liris lives."

"Exactly." Jadis' voice was cold and sinister.

The dying man started up, clutching painfully at his side, and looked at his daughter, the Jewel of Charn, with widened eyes. "You wouldn't kill your own sister," he breathed.

"There is no love between her and myself."

"Jadis, I forbid you --"

"You forbid me," Jadis cut in, her voice still calm and measured. "You, a dying man, forbid me, the Hope of Charn, to take what is mine. What has always been mine. What will always be mine?"

"Liris is the child of my first wife. She is the heir."

Jadis came forward, her eyes sparkling angrily, and seized her father by his shoulders.

"Charn will go to me after your death, dear father," she hissed.

She let go of her father's shoulders abruptly and, turning to a small table nearby, seized a small ornamental dagger. Sharp and jagged, the blade appeared to be made of stone.

"After your death, dear father," she repeated, driving the blade home. She watched with satisfaction as the white sheets were stained a dark red. The King slumped forward, eyes widened, breath ragged, and fixed his daughter with a look of hurt and reproach.

"Charn will never be yours, Jadis," he gasped. "With my final breath I curse you. May Liris avoid the trap which has ensnared me. May -" he left off with a gurgling cry, as Jadis' slashed forward with the knife again.

"The King of Charn is dead," she whispered, staggering backwards and looking at the knife in her hands with a sort of awe. "Long live Jadis, Queen of Charn."

Placing the knife carefully near the prostrate form of her father, Jadis thrust the window open. She unbolted the door and, running into the corridor, screamed frantically:

"Assassin! Murderer!"

And the slaves, who came anxiously running, failed to notice the look of fierce joy their princess wore.


	2. Chapter 2

**An: **Hello all, my apologies for this late and rather short chapter. My muse has decided to desert me, and so this is all I could come up with. I hope you like it anyway.

(as stated in a previous story, I'm taking a two or three week break from writing anything. Family matters.)

A quick shout-out to all those who reviewed: Daedal, VampiresWizardsCentaursOhmy, unicorn-skydancer08, A Girl Called Tennessee, and Eriphi. Thank-you one and all for the feed-back. You made my day.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Lewis' all Lewis'.

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"Jadis!"

The bearer of that name turned quickly at the harsh, imperious voice.

"Yes, dear sister?" she asked, twisting slightly at the sound. "And to what do I owe this – pleasure?"

"Our father is dead," the voice said.

Jadis rose slowly from her father's throne, her face a deathly pallor, her eyes shining with a strange light. She came towards her sister, softly, menacingly, and placed a slim hand upon her shrinking arm.

"Yes, he is _dead_." She relished the last word, pronouncing it with a morbid delight.

"Why was I not summoned?"

"But you were, dear Liris, I sent my slaves to fetch you."

"They never came," Liris snapped, anger and suspicion present in her voice.

Jadis smiled. It would have been a sweet, innocent smile on any face but hers. On her ghostly countenance, however, it resembled a proud and malicious smirk. A faint glimmer danced in her eyes.

"Perhaps they got lost." she murmured.

Sharp, swift, Liris' hand was raised. Stinging, painful, it descended on her sister's face. Jadis, stunned by the blow, staggered back with a low cry of anger. Her sister, drawing herself to her full height, surveyed her sister's crimson cheek with a look of triumph.

Jadis, though the younger by a handful of years, was taller, stronger, more powerful. She recovered her poise, seized her sister's wrist in a vice-like grip, and bent it backwards.

"You dare to strike the Future Queen of Charn, you miserable worm," she hissed.

"Queen of Charn," Liris spat, "you will never be. That throne -" she pointed at the large golden object behind them with her free hand –"is mine. It is my birthright. It is my destiny. You may be the Jewel of Charn, Jadis, but _I_ am the Crown!"

Jadis let go of her sister's wrist with a low, animalistic snarl. She raised her hand, intending to slap her sister's face in return.

"Cross that line, Jadis," Liris snapped, "and I will do everything in my power to crush you beneath my heel."

Jadis crossed it, slapping her sister full across the face.

Liris reeled backwards, tripped on a jagged edge of the seemingly smooth fall, and fell onto the steps leading up to the throne. She cast her sister a look full of anger and gnashed her teeth.

"I hate you, Jadis," she snarled, her lip curling.

"I know, dear sister," Jadis' tone had returned to it's icy, calm temperature. "I hate you too."

And with that, the younger of the princesses of Charn turned on her heel and left the room. Liris waited until she was gone, then drew herself to her feet and ascended the steps she had fallen upon. She seated herself on the throne of Charn, and smiled, proudly, cruelly, her eyes glazed as she looked to the future where she, Liris, and not Jadis, would rule as queen.

The Hope of Charn they called Jadis. Why? Because her tongue was sweet and promised to restore Charn to its former glory. Because she was the younger, stronger, more beautiful sister. She took them in like so many lambs running madly to the slaughter. Jadis couldn't care less, Liris reflected, for the fate of Charn and its people. She wanted power - always power - and would kill anyone who tried to stop her from gaining that power.

But surely there were loyal subjects who cared for the ancient line of Charn. Subjects who would rather have the next of kin on the throne of Charn. Many hated Jadis, Liris thought with glee, they hated and feared her. Liris decided to prey upon these enlightened subjects. She planned to draw these into fighting and killing any piffling army Jadis would manage to gather. Yes, Jadis would be crushed under her heel like the serpent she was.

And as she sat there in the darkness, lost in her musings, little did she realize that Jadis had already made her first move.

The battle for Charn would come to pass sooner than Liris anticipated.


End file.
